


A Lantern's Guiding Light

by VirusInTheCity



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-25 04:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/948643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirusInTheCity/pseuds/VirusInTheCity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Be careful, Castiel, a righteous soul is difficult to look upon."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lantern's Guiding Light

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbeta'd. Normally I'd have my awesome girlfriend beta it for me, but she was busy and I didn't feel like waiting, so here it is. Might fix it if she tells me there is anything wrong with it.

Be careful, Castiel, a righteous soul is difficult to look upon. That was what Raphael had said to him before the mission to save a soul from hell. He didn’t know what that meant, per say; aside from the obvious, but he had a feeling that he was about to figure it out.  
  
He and his brothers went to the gates of Hell and paused with trepidation. Seeing the suffering, the pain, the blood and gore. It was disgusting, Castiel had to close his eyes. If this is what Raphael had meant with his warning, then Castiel understood. He braced himself and moved forwards with his brothers into the pits of Hell, only opening his eyes when he could no longer fly using the position of the others to guide him. When he opened his eyes, what he saw was horrible. It was everything that he expected to see on his trip through Hell, and so much more. Everything was rotten and vile. There were only so many words to describe what he was seeing. People being torn apart by hooks and cut by knives. Screams were bombarding him from all sides and he was overwhelmed. He looked to his brothers for support, however they were no longer by his side.  
  
This development unnerved him more than the mission itself. Flying by himself through Hell was confusing and painful for him. The location itself causes him physical pain just by being there, so finding one soul in the midst of all these tortured beings was going to be extremely difficult, to say the least. He would persevere, because this was what his father wanted. Find the Righteous Man and save him, he would have to trust that his brothers would find him, or find their own way out. Castiel was not going to give up, he could not. There was something inside him driving him forward, pushing him to keep looking; despite the heat, despite the pain, despite being lost, despite everything telling him to turn tail and run.  
  
He flies on, getting weaker by the minute, and just when he feels he is about to collapse, he sees it: the most beautiful soul he had ever laid eyes on. It was bright and strong, despite it was covered in a thin layer of dirt, grime, and blood. He could still see it glowing in the pit of Hell, and suddenly, he knew. He knew who he came here for, he could see the way that the brilliance shone through the darkness and became a beacon to those that knew what to look for.  
  
Light shown from the human at an intense degree, and Castiel had to pull back his senses to see what the human below it looked like. The man had a knife in his hand and the white eyes that denote a demon of higher power. There was a soul on the racks in front of him, and the bright shining demon seemed to delight in the cries that were ripped from it. Objectively, the man had short, light brown hair and tan skin. Broad shoulders, and a steady hand that flayed another limb of the damned soul in front of him. Castiel realises then that he has arrived too late, and the the righteous man has already fallen in Hell. Next he registers that if this is what the man looks like when his soul is sullied by Lucifer’s taint, then the radiance of this man must be blinding when clean. Bright enough to rival the Grace of God.  
  
Castiel realised that he had been motionless in Hell, but was not feeling the ill effects of being in a place that was so repulsive to his very essence. Castiel noted that it must be the Righteous Man, giving his Grace respite and energy. He charged forward to retrieve the demon from his vicious ministrations to the tortured soul. He grabbed hold of the man and turned as quick as he could and flew with all his might in the direction in which he came from. The fires of Hell licked at his wings and urged him on, told him that he needed to fly faster, not to bother looking for his comrades. The Righteous Man fought him the whole time that Castiel flew, thrashing in his hold and tearing at his Grace. It pained Castiel, but at the same time, the ever present glow of the demon’s soul kept Castiel from feeling the blows, making the attempts counterproductive.  
  
Despite all the factors working against him, Castiel manages to make it back to the gates of Hell where he entered. He had not seen another of his brothers since they had been scattered, but he did not wait for their return. He simply burst through the gates to the plane separating the mortal world and the land of the damned. There he paused, taking the time to inspect the soul that he did not before, and made his judgements.  
  
The soul was breathtaking, as he had noticed before, but upon closer inspection there were holes and scars all over it. It was covered in blood and viscera. The light was morphed into an awkward shape, not behaving as it naturally should; this soul shone like a lantern in the dark when the normal human soul should appear more of a star in the sky: tiny, bright, and numerous. This one was different. This one had dark spots and it glowed as though it was meant to be a guide, was made by God to lead the way.  
  
Castiel cleaned the dirt, grime, blood and innards off the Righteous Man and his soul. With each passing moment the light got brighter, what was once a bright light in a dark room was now the sun in the sky for all it’s radiance. Castiel knew that he would not be able to repair the tears and cuts that were made to the soul, if he did, there would have been no way for him to resist its’ beauty. As it stood, Castiel had a difficult time remembering what he was supposed to do now that he had the Man. He puzzled and thought it over as he continued to care for his charge. After a few moments he recalled that he had been instructed to return the Righteous Man to his body. Not a difficult task, all things considered. Just had to find it and put it back. The man had only just died.  
  
Except Castiel was wrong. It had been four months since the man in question had died, and Castiel was not sure how he was not aware that such a time had passed while he was in the Pit. Finding the remains was the easy part. Putting the rotting corpse back together appropriately was another matter entirely. Castiel may not have stitched the soul back together, but the Man wasn’t going to get much of anything done with a body such as that one.  
  
Castiel was quite careful in his reconstruction of the Righteous Man’s physical form, taking extra care to ensure the cohesive lines and continuity of his past life. When he had finished, he placed the soul back in the body, which was located at the bottom of a large hole. Castiel flew to the topsoil and examined the crudely made grave marker, discovering the name of the man he had pulled from the depths of Hell.  
  
“Dean Winchester has been saved from Hell.” he exclaimed to his brethren, feeling the pride well up inside of him for completing a task so monumental.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo.... I'm not sure if I want to go further with this and I would like some feedback if you think I should continue or leave it where it is. If you don't mind, that is.


End file.
